Tuesday, June 13, 2006
When you start to research bipolar disorder, you’re going to run into the topic of mood charts frequently. Everyone recommends their use, and for good reason. Out of all the things I did after being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, keeping a mood chart was probably the most helpful. Keeping a mood chart has several significant benefits.
1. It forces you to think daily about your mental health and frame of mind.
2. It allows you to track significant events, and your response to them. For example, receiving bad news, or a promotion, or any event that could cause a change in mood.
3. You can track personal things like hours slept, personal cycles, and other factors that can be triggers or forecasters. For example, if you get less than 4 hours of sleep, you might become irritable, or start climbing towards mania. Conversely, if you are sleeping over 8 hours a day you may have a depression coming on.
4. Environmental factors such as weather, season, moon phase and other things can be significant mood-changers.
5. It allows you to track medication changes. Indicate on your chart when you started a new med, or when you stopped a med, or changed dosages. You can then see exactly what happened, and when.
6. Your health care provider, if they haven’t already asked for this, will find this immensely helpful. It is a visual glance on your condition since your last visit. It makes your visits much more efficient and potentially effective.
At the minimum, a mood chart should indicate the date, the level of heightened mood, and the level of depressed mood. You might consider 0 to 3 either direction, with zero being no elevation or depression, and going up from there. Other potential criteria to track are as follows:
• Med changes
• Overall mood
• Anxiety
• Irritability
• Depression
• Anger
• Rage
• Distorted thinking
• Hours slept
• Appetite
• Energy level
• Physical problems or symptoms.
• External triggers.
• Ability to function
• Suicidal thoughts.
• Consumption of alcohol, caffeine, or other drugs.
• Number of cigarettes or amount of nicotine.
• Eating habits.
• Self-injurious behavior.
• Psychotic symptoms
• Your weight (indicated at some interval.)
• Exercise.
• Significant life events
Personally, my mood chart also includes irritation, anxiety, and hours slept, along with a comments section as a “catch all”. You’ll want to be flexible, if you find over time that something you are tracking has little bearing on your mood, drop it from your chart and track something else.
There are many different formats of a mood chart, from simple to complex. I created one in Excel for my personal use. It is printed out and sits on the desk in the bedroom where it will be seen and noticed often, reminding me to complete it daily. It’s simple, and easy to customize. Or spend a few minutes Googling this topic, and you’ll come up with several formats. Here are a few:
Massacusetts General Hospital Bipolar Clinic and Research Program
1. It forces you to think daily about your mental health and frame of mind.
2. It allows you to track significant events, and your response to them. For example, receiving bad news, or a promotion, or any event that could cause a change in mood.
3. You can track personal things like hours slept, personal cycles, and other factors that can be triggers or forecasters. For example, if you get less than 4 hours of sleep, you might become irritable, or start climbing towards mania. Conversely, if you are sleeping over 8 hours a day you may have a depression coming on.
4. Environmental factors such as weather, season, moon phase and other things can be significant mood-changers.
5. It allows you to track medication changes. Indicate on your chart when you started a new med, or when you stopped a med, or changed dosages. You can then see exactly what happened, and when.
6. Your health care provider, if they haven’t already asked for this, will find this immensely helpful. It is a visual glance on your condition since your last visit. It makes your visits much more efficient and potentially effective.
At the minimum, a mood chart should indicate the date, the level of heightened mood, and the level of depressed mood. You might consider 0 to 3 either direction, with zero being no elevation or depression, and going up from there. Other potential criteria to track are as follows:
• Med changes
• Overall mood
• Anxiety
• Irritability
• Depression
• Anger
• Rage
• Distorted thinking
• Hours slept
• Appetite
• Energy level
• Physical problems or symptoms.
• External triggers.
• Ability to function
• Suicidal thoughts.
• Consumption of alcohol, caffeine, or other drugs.
• Number of cigarettes or amount of nicotine.
• Eating habits.
• Self-injurious behavior.
• Psychotic symptoms
• Your weight (indicated at some interval.)
• Exercise.
• Significant life events
Personally, my mood chart also includes irritation, anxiety, and hours slept, along with a comments section as a “catch all”. You’ll want to be flexible, if you find over time that something you are tracking has little bearing on your mood, drop it from your chart and track something else.
There are many different formats of a mood chart, from simple to complex. I created one in Excel for my personal use. It is printed out and sits on the desk in the bedroom where it will be seen and noticed often, reminding me to complete it daily. It’s simple, and easy to customize. Or spend a few minutes Googling this topic, and you’ll come up with several formats. Here are a few:
Massacusetts General Hospital Bipolar Clinic and Research Program
